My new classes

So I have now done a full week of "Masters" level classes in France and to tell you the truth I am a little disappointed. Our professeur is on a contract from an NGO, so only works with us for one day/week. While I am certain he is a very smart man, he is not a 'teacher' and he says a lot of catch-cries and fluffy 'stuff' that doesn't really contribute to our learning. So far, the course seems to be heavily based on sustainable development in developing countries and while it is interesting it is not what the brief indicated. The course is a little disorganised, it is the first time it has been offered, but for the amount I am paying... I expect more! When he had a brief chat with us about the classes etc, he said we would be judged partly by our participation in class and partly by our exam results. If he is there only 1 day/week I am not sure how he is going to do that and he has had this class for 2 months and still doesn't know anyone's names so I am not very confident in the system! Hopefully being Australian will make me stick out a bit!

Our course is split up into sections, last week and for 2 days this week, we are learning about India and the problems it faces with urbanization. We have a guest lecturer from India lecturing for the whole week. The poor french students can't understand a word of his english because they have never come across an Indian accent before! So I am the class translator!

It is compulsory to attend each class and there is a sign on sheet for ALL classes, nevertheless, by Friday we are down to only about half of the class showing up (magically the sheet is signed for all though!). Originally, I thought that is a good system, it is strict but it ensures that not only do you get an academic education, you get to discuss with your classmates and the uni is more 'alive' because there are more students around(the opposite to USQ). After the 2nd day, I love Australia's system! Granted, I am a nerd, but I go to class to learn, some other students are only in the class because they have to be there and hence they chat, play games on their phones etc. Admittedly, we don't have classes from 9-5 every day, so the one or two hours of contact hours we do have is fairly intensive. But it is incredibly distracting and as our 'lecturers' are not teachers they are not used to beratting students and just let them talk. I think it must be impossible to whisper in French! The poor lecturers try so hard to get the class involved and just receive blank stares (or nothing at all). I feel like the class loser for answering all the questions they ask, but otherwise the class would never progress because he would just be waiting and waiting for a response, while everyone chats to their neighbour!

So, I have been thinking of my perfect system, I still think it is good to make attendance compulsory (maybe compulsory to attend 50% of classes), but I think the classes should be presented in short intensive sessions of 1-2hours, with students responsible for getting through the remainder of the material in their own time.

EPF is a tiny little Univeristy, we do classes in a converted house I believe and there are 3 campuses that are about 10 mins walk away from each other in a suburban area, very picturesque! I'll try and get some more photos of my class and the campus and put them up later!